Sitting Ducks

Near a park where I grew up, there are toys. These types of toys are in many parks. Usually, they are horses, or seahorses. Sometimes they are elephants. These toys were ducks. They sat on large reinforced springs. You sit upon them and pretend to ride, and the ducks will bobble. It is easy to become disoriented if you are small an fall off on the gravel. In the gravel, it is easy to skin your knee, or get pebbles in your shoes. This is very uncomfortable, and so is walking with them in your shoes.

I do not think they make these sorts of ducks for sitting any more. So I have only seen these ducks at one park. Every year they powder dip the springs again. They do not seem to repair any other portion of the duck.

A year ago, in this park with the ducks (and also a giant iron space ship you can climb in), I went back and sat down on the duck. I was much bigger than I had been. The duck squished all the way down on the spring. I tried to bobble on the duck. It did not bobble.

I also did not fit up into the space ship at the corner of the park any more. Instead, I took pictures of the rocket and the ducks. And then the small children began to throw pebbles and sticks at me. It was time to leave.